


Driving Force

by blacklionshiro (Fonbella)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Rituals, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Space, Blade of Marmora AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-06
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2019-01-09 22:38:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12285732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fonbella/pseuds/blacklionshiro
Summary: While still very young, Shiro and his parents are rescued by the Blade’s task force from the Galra ship they were imprisoned into. They don’t have anywhere to go to, Earth is but a memory from the past, and his parents feel indebted to the group that rescued them. Willing to stay and help the resistance against the Empire’s threatening force, Shiro enlists himself in Ulaz’s training for young Galra, where he meets chief Kolivan’s son, Keith.Together, they grow up to become Ulaz’s most brilliant students and prepare for war. But what Shiro is about to learn is that he and Keith have a lot more in common than he previously thought.





	Driving Force

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to [@sednamode](http://sednamode.tumblr.com/) and [@quarrely](http://quarrely.tumblr.com/) for betaing for me. To my girlfriend, for cheering me on and rightfully annoying me to finish this. Thank you guys so much, you have no idea.

**i. rescue**

 

Galran ships were cold, silently running machines.

There were two kinds of ships Shiro had been to; ones with living aliens and ones with just robots. The main difference, he noticed, was in their treatment. Manned ships were quiet, but not entirely silent. Galra soldiers could—but not necessarily would—go after them in the cells. Sometimes they yelled incomprehensible grunts and words. Shiro hated them the most.

The bots, however, didn’t care enough to antagonize their prisoners. They had a clear goal: pilot the ship to its destination, usually to deliver cargo. What the prisoners did in the meantime wasn’t of their concern, so long as they didn’t attempt to break out of their cells.

Normally prisoners would only be taken from their cells to fight in the pits— large stadiums, packed with the most bizarre aliens he could imagine, and monsters taller than the tallest of the galra. The purple lights, the sweat and blood, the roaring from the crowd—it scared people away. Whenever they saw a galra officer approaching, they would become alert, group together, hope they wouldn’t be picked.

No one wanted to be picked for the fights. Some people didn’t come back whole. Some didn’t come back at all.

After the galra returned them to their cells, they would be left alone for days, maybe even weeks. The captors rarely returned soon, and never on the same day.

But overall, they lived in the silence; the quiet rumble of the engines was all the noise they would hear for days. Despite being only ten, that was precisely how Shiro realized something was off on the day his father returned from the fighting dungeons.  While treating his wounds, they heard the first footsteps. Rushed metal sounds clicking on the hard floor, approaching, then disappearing in the distance. Then another pair. It became impossible to ignore it when there were too many to count.

They couldn’t see them, not really. But the shadows passing by underneath the door and through the small window were enough to make them worried.

The galra officers were back, they were patrolling the halls. They were quick, they were agitated, something was going on and they didn’t know what.

Shiro got close to his parents, embracing his mother tightly. Whatever happened, they had to stay together. They would protect each other.

* * *

 

There was a prison break, though everyone was confused as to why the galra themselves were breaking them out of the cells.

Two galra officers in uniform kicked the door open, said something he couldn’t quite understand and when none of the prisoners moved, they came into the cell and pulled them by their arms, ushering them outside.

Shiro was scared, everyone was. But they did as they were instructed. Past experience told them it was best to do as told, to remain passive against the galra. They all just wanted to survive.

One of the galra wore a mask, the other a dark uniform. The one with the dark uniform said something, then went ahead. He rammed a sentry into the wall, stole its weapon and dashed ahead.

The masked galra made a gesture with his hand, indicating for them to follow.

They didn’t have to be told twice.

After crossing the long purple corridor, they arrived at a cargo area, where a small ship unlike any they’d seen was stationed in between two battle-ready ships. Everyone was so worried about trying to understand what was happening that they barely noticed a pair of feet on the other side of the ship, but Shiro was short enough to see them from underneath it. Then they moved, walking forward and Shiro gasped when he saw a child appear.

A human child.

He had never seen one before. The women in the cells almost never got pregnant and when they did, the babies rarely survived through gestation or the first year. But there he was, a boy a bit younger than Shiro - perhaps 6 or 7 - who came running straight towards the masked galra.

Apparently, his parents and the other humans were just as shocked. No one had seen a child in this kind of ship before.

The child spoke something. It was galra, definitely. Shiro couldn’t understand it, but he’d heard it enough that he knew what it sounded like.

Behind them, the galra in dark uniform from before came running and opened the airship’s door, motioning for them to get inside. His mother held Shiro’s hand tightly, pulling him inside. Just as his father was about to do the same, two sentries showed up at the entrance of the cargo bay.

When they fired their weapon, everyone started to scream and his mother immediately hugged Shiro, using her body as shield.

He could barely watch over her shoulder as the galra in dark uniform - and the child - went after the soldiers. His heart was pounding when the kid got close enough to be shot at without chance for error, but before the sentry could pull the trigger, the one in dark uniform had torn its arm and its gun away. The child moved to the second one, right by its side, and despite his small stature, managed to kick it with enough force that the sentry stumbled backwards. The dark uniform galra finished it off by crushing its head against the wall.

They both came running back to the ship. The masked one was turning on the engines and as soon as the other two hopped in, they closed the door and the ship left. Only then did Shiro’s mother let go of him, but she still held his hand tight.

From the window, Shiro watched as one of the empire ships he spent most of his short life in disappeared in the distance. He was just old enough to know that he never wanted to see one again.

* * *

 

Shiro had been in too many different galra ships before. Whether he was being shipped to the next fighting grounds with his parents or to the next laboratory for more experiments, most of his life had been spent on ships. He had been born in one, after all.

The others called him a victor, but he didn’t even know what that was supposed to mean.

However, the ship he was put on with his parents this time was much different from anything he had seen before. It was still purple and mostly dark, but also incredibly smaller. There were no cells. They were put into seats and the galra with the dark uniform attempted to talk with them, but none of them could understand a word he said.

Growing up in a galra-owned ship, Shiro did pick up a few words, especially from being brought to the fighting arenas (even if he never actually fought in them himself). As a child, Shiro had heard plenty of galra yell at his father, and had come to learn which words were positive and which negative. But he didn't know nearly enough to make sense of a whole sentence.

After the galra was done talking, no one moved. Everyone kept staring at him, and he hissed.

He then motioned for the human child, the same one that had helped him at the dock, and the child came forward, carrying some objects in his hands. He walked straight to Shiro first.

Lifting a hand towards Shiro, the child played with one of the objects in his hand. It was small like a marble, round and gray. He swirled it in his fingers, almost as if he wanted to show it.

Was he trying to get Shiro familiar with the object?

“This is going to sting,” he said, and lifted a hand to Shiro.

“You speak English!” Surprised, Shiro pulled away, but the other boy hissed at him.

When Shiro stopped moving away in his seat, he came forward again. The boy’s arm reached behind Shiro’s back and suddenly, there was pain, like a needle breaking into the skin of his neck.

“Ouch!” Shiro screamed out and lifted a hand to the back of his neck. He could feel the round object sinking into his skin. It seemed to have a needle underneath it, because he could definitely feel the sting.

His mother immediately pushed the human boy away and brought Shiro closer to her.

“What did he do? What is this?” Her fingers attempted to grab the small pellet from his back, but she stopped when Shiro cried out in pain.

“I’m okay, mom.” He pushed away from her and turned to the boy. “What is this?”

“It’s a translator.”

Shiro blinked at the boy a few times, then immediately turned to the tall galra in the dark uniform.

“I forgot to give these out before. Tell your human companions they’ll each get one of these.”

He could _understand._

Shiro immediately fell back into his mother’s arms.

“Woah, he talked!”

The boy laughed. “You wouldn’t be the first alien with that reaction.” He walked towards Shiro’s father, giving him the translator. His father recoiled a bit, but wasn’t as surprised from the bite of the device.

“What about you? You’re human too?”

He had to be. He certainly looked like one.

“I am, but I’m also galra.”

“Oh.”

It didn’t make a whole lot of sense in his mind, but Shiro decided against asking more questions. For now, anyway.

The galra in the dark uniform took a couple of the pellets in his hands and went around every single one of them, humans and not, sticking the tiny orb on their necks. Some complained but no one seemed to refuse the translator.

Once he was done, he returned to the taller masked galra's side.

“We’re taking you to one of our bases, where you can receive medical attention and be on your way. We do not ask for anything in return for saving you, but we do ask you to consider allying yourselves to our cause and fight against the Empire.”

“But… you’re galra.” All eyes turned to one of the humans, a bald man in the back of the ship. “Why?”

“The short answer is we do not agree with the Empire’s methods and are fighting against it. There is much more to it than that, but I don’t have the time to explain.”

“Can we go home?” Shiro’s mother asked, firm grip around his shoulders tightening.

“You can, if you have the means to do so. We can’t possibly drive you all home. If you have family on other planets, we can help you contact them through our system. But we do not have the men or the ships to take every rescued prisoner home. That’s entirely on you.”

An uproar started, with everyone talking at the same time.

Shiro shook his head and slipped away from his mother’s embrace while she was busy talking to another human, a man who had shared a cell with them for a while.

Walking back a few steps, he stopped when he felt two hands hold him in place from behind. He turned to look at the culprit—the human-galra boy.

“You talk too much.”

Shiro could only smile.

“We haven’t been able to talk in years.”

They were barely allowed to make any noise in the cells. The noise coming from the multitude of conversations was weird and maybe a bit deafening. And while Shiro wasn’t upset by it, he didn’t want to get caught up in it either.

It was only then that Shiro realized something crucial was missing. “What’s your name?”

“Keith.”

“That’s a good name,” he smiled. “I’m Shiro.”

“Shiro.” He repeated in a low voice, more in thought to himself than anyone else.

Shiro extended a hand to Keith, but he simply glanced at it and turned back, returning to the galra's side.

“What’s your name, sir?” Shiro hoped it was okay to ask.

“Thace.” Then he motioned with his head towards to masked galra driving the ship. “He is Ulaz.”

His voice was imperative, signalizing he wouldn’t talk any more for the remainder of the trip, but it wasn’t cold. Shiro didn’t know why, but for some reason, Thace seemed like a cool guy.

 

**ii. reconnaissance**

 

The so-called “base” Thace had mentioned before was not so much a base free floating in space as it was an entire civilization thriving on an asteroid. Ulaz was kind enough to tell Shiro’s father why, and Shiro paid close attention to it: the asteroid, forever moving, was perfect for leaving no traces and being difficult to track. Radiation from the debris field the asteroid belonged to helped keep intruders away. They were safe from the radiation inside the small domes and corridors that ran throughout the surface of the asteroid, and some underneath.

A perfect, secret base in open space.

If Shiro was under the impression that their arrival would be a big change and warrant any attention from the locals, he was wrong. After docking the ship, Thace immediately left. The place was empty save for a few galra workers.

No one was there to greet them, specifically.

Ulaz and Keith helped them out of the ship and Shiro noticed how Keith would mostly stay close to him. He could hardly blame Keith, as he felt the same urge. He was the first human child he had seen. That definitely meant something to him.

“Please, follow me.”

Ulaz walked ahead, leading them forward through the metal corridors. They were much different from any of the tight halls from the cargo ships. Shiro and Keith stayed close together, sometimes bumping into each other. Could Shiro be the first human child Keith had seen? Were they on the same boat? Part of him wanted to ask that, but mostly he was curious about his surroundings. There would always be time for a “get to know” later. Right now, he wanted to know about the base.

How many people lived there? All galra? Any humans? What were they going to do with him? So many questions, but he doubted Keith knew any more than he did. Sticking close together gave him some hope that things were about to get better.

They arrived in a big hall with dozens of masked galra. Without thinking about it, Shiro immediately stepped back and attempted to hide behind Keith, even though the other one was much smaller than him.

“It's okay, they're good.”

Keith's voice was comforting and he trusted Keith, but he still couldn't find it in himself to trust them. From the way his parents moved closer and touched Shiro's shoulder, he figured they were nervous too.

“Keith, what is this place?”

But before he got an answer, Keith bolted ahead, leaving a confused Shiro behind.

Keith stopped atop a small platform where one of the tallest galra Shiro had seen stood. He didn't have a mask like the others and a braid of white hair fell over his shoulder. He put a hand on top of Keith's head, then glanced towards the escaped prisoners.

Ulaz spoke first, walking towards the braided man.

“Thace and I intercepted another ship.”

“And me!” added Keith, looking up at the braided galra expectantly.

“And Keith. We rescued these people. They might be looking for a place to stay.”

“Anyone willing to help is welcome to stay.” The braided man stepped forward. Everything about him, from his posture to his clothes seemed to scream power. There was no doubt that he was the leader of the pack. “Antok will brief you later, but I would like to welcome you to our base. My name is Kolivan.” He patted Keith’s head. “It seems you’re already familiar with my son, Keith. You can come to me or to Antok if you need anything.”

After that, Kolivan took Keith, who was so small in comparison to him, in his right arm and left the room. Shiro couldn’t help but watch as the two left, suppressing the urge to go after them. He would have to find a way to see Keith again later.

Another galra entered the room, this one fully masked, and he could sense the fear in his mother’s hands when she touched his shoulders and pulled him close.

“My name is Antok. Please follow me.”

* * *

 

Their base was fantastic. Shiro had never seen so much tech before, being confined to cells most of the time. It was clear that the place was still heavily militarized, with all the fighter ships and the amount of training facilities around, but the atmosphere was completely different from the one surrounding the gladiator rings back with the empire.

These people fought because they wanted to. They weren’t being forced and they didn’t sustain any serious injuries.

While Antok continued to explain some of the facilities around, Shiro’s eyes were drawn to someone he immediately recognized: Keith. Across from the long corridor there was a large glass window. Inside, dozens of galra children gathered around one of the rescuers - Ulaz, if he remembered correctly. Among them was Keith. It was easy to see spot him even from far away, as he was the only one who didn’t have the visible purple skin or fur, like most.

Antok’s voice drowned out as Shiro intensely focused on that room. Ulaz was helping the children with their posture. One of them held a pole and swung it in the direction of another kid, who rolled away and deflected the attack. They were training!

He could almost feel his feet urging him to get closer when he heard Antok’s voice directly speak to him.

“That is Ulaz’s class. Where our youngest learn how to take a stand in the fight against the empire.”

Their guide exited through a door at the end of the corridor and Shiro was forced to follow them, even though he wanted to stay and watch.

Somehow the idea of fighting against the empire had never occurred to him, so accustomed he was to the cells. But now that it had, the idea wouldn’t leave. Maybe after the tour was over, he could talk with his parents about it.

* * *

 

Shiro ran as fast as his feet could take him. He could feel the eyes of the aliens - galran and other species, tracking him down through the long corridors of the base. Was it because he was human and different? Or were they just not used to running around the base? Suddenly, he felt like a kid. He was one, for starters, but liked to think otherwise. Being 10 meant he was almost a teen and he wanted to be taken seriously.

He did slow down as he approached the same corridor from before. As expected, Ulaz was there with the children. They each had their own training poles now, and competed against each other as their teacher carefully watched them.

Taking a deep breath in, Shiro came face to face with the door, which is when he noticed the first problem: unlike other galra, he couldn’t have his hand scanned for it to open, he wasn’t like them. Even if he was galra, he was still too short to reach the scanner - the galra were too tall.

Luckily for him, a hand passed above his head, pressing the scanner. In a second, the door slid open and Shiro glanced back to see Antok nodding at him.

“Thank you.” He whispered to the giant galra, almost as if in awe.

In the following moment, Antok turned and left. Did he follow Shiro here just to help him? Whatever the case, Shiro came inside the room and called for the teacher.

“Ulaz?”

The galra was sparring with Keith, or rather, effortlessly dodging Keith’s wooden sword with both hands to his back.

“Shiro.” Ulaz turned to him, nodding.

Using the distraction in his favor, Keith swung at him again, but Ulaz stepped aside and Keith rolled to the ground. Shiro’s translator didn’t seem to pick up on his swears.

“Language, Keith. Before Kolivan blames me for it again.”

Keith pouted, but seemed to forget about it once he turned towards Shiro as well.

“Hi, Shiro.”

He waved towards Keith, but as expected, the other didn’t wave back. Maybe he should learn of the galras’ greeting manners sometime soon.

“My family has decided to stay here, with the Blade.”

Keith and Ulaz exchanged a glance and smiled.

“We’re happy to hear that,” Ulaz started. “Any help is welcome.”

Shiro nodded.

“My parents are doctors. They don’t know much about, huh— well, you.” He gestured towards both of them. “But they’re good learners. I think they’ll talk with you about it later.”

“Please tell them to. I’m about the closest thing to a physician and chemist around here. I have books to provide that might help them out.”

“And, huh…” He fidgeted, but Keith and Ulaz waited patiently for him to speak. “Thace told me you also teach how to fight. For us.” He stared directly at Keith. “Children.”

“I do. Did he tell you to enlist yourself?”

Shiro shook his head.

“No sir. I just want to. It’s one way I can help.”

Keith held onto Ulaz’s pants, pulling at them. Ulaz seemed to understand, for he patted Keith’s head to calm him down.

“The only human in my classes to this date has been this one. You humans really are quick learners.” Turning towards Shiro, he smiled. “I’d like to have you in my class.”

 

**iii. tradition and rejection**

 

If the other children, older and younger, had a problem with a human in their classes, they never showed it. Maybe it was because they were already used to Keith, but they never gave Shiro any grief for not being Galra.

He and Keith seemed to pair together to spar as much as possible. Ulaz almost never interfered, though he would ask them to change the pairs every once in while so Shiro could learn to defend against larger opponents as well.

“Good. Keith, watch your step.”

They were divided in groups of four, two against two. Keith and Shiro against two Galra, both seemingly the same age, which meant they were older than Keith but younger than Shiro. With not a whole lot of experience to go by, Shiro knew he was going to lose and he felt ashamed by it.

He gave it all he could when attacking, but was terrible at defending. He never knew when to dodge properly and the galra kid’s longer arms gave him a better reach.

Shiro was knocked back by a foot to his chest and Keith immediately ran after him.

“Shiro!”

He didn’t land on the ground as expected. Instead, two large hands caught him. Looking up, he saw Ulaz nodding at him and pushing him back up to his feet and forward.

“Don’t let her height discourage you.”

He pointed towards Keith, and Shiro glanced in his direction.

Keith was much shorter than the other galra, but managed to keep up with his opponent. He dodged some attacks, got hit by others, but he never winced or stopped coming after him. Keith was confident in his moves, even when he failed.

Nodding, Shiro got back to the other three. Keith quickly smirked at him before dodging another attack from his paired opponent and Shiro readied himself for the girl he was paired with.

Confidence. He could do that too.

* * *

 

His new home, and by all accounts his first one, was in fact a shared lodge, with other humans that also decided to stay. His mother had explained to him that it was so for two reasons: cultural and logistics.

The galra were used to living together as a community, not with a family per house. Even if they weren’t, there was not enough space on this rock to accommodate everyone if they didn’t share.

It was apparently a bit of a disappointment to his parents, who were used to Earth, but Shiro had never been to their home planet. He was born on a galra ship, and his cells had always been shared. This was life as he had always known it.

At least he didn’t sleep on the floor anymore and there were no bars to lock him in. That in and of itself was already a huge improvement.

By the end of the first week, Shiro had learned how to walk to Ulaz’s dojo and back to his own home. He was nowhere nearly as skilled as the other children who had been learning for far longer than him, but Ulaz was patient enough to help him out.

When he arrived in the dojo that day, half of the class still haven’t arrived. They should have, it was nearly time. Did Shiro arrive too early?

One quick check to the ticker on the wall and he knew he wasn’t too early. Something was definitely wrong.

Just as he was about to go back home and look for answers, Ulaz showed up behind.

“Ah, Shiro.”

“Ulaz!” He exclaimed a bit too happily. Exhaling in an attempt to calm down, he tried again with a lower voice. “Where is everyone?”

“Did Korah not relay you the message?”

Korah was one of the Galra children who happened to live close to the human dorm. They weren't particularly close or even friends, but she was nice enough whenever Shiro talked with her.

“I don't think so?” The confusion was audible in his voice. “Did something happen?”

Instead of answering his question, Ulaz raised an eyebrow. He stepped forward and walked past Shiro, to the back of the dojo, where he picked up two wooden poles.

“She is as forgetful as she is skilled.” He shook his head in disapproval and turned to face Shiro. “There are no classes today and tomorrow.” Before Shiro could protest that, he continued. “The children are preparing for their trial.”

“Trial? What trial?”

Ulaz raised him an eyebrow.

“They never explained the trials to you?”

Shiro meekly shook his head. He felt as though he was supposed to have known about this. But how was he supposed to if no one so much as mentioned it to him?”

Just before Ulaz opened his mouth to say something, the door slid open and Keith entered the room.

“Oh, Shiro!” he seemed surprised to find him there. Despite that, he turned to speak with Ulaz instead. “I was thinking, since I’m not old enough for the trial yet, can I train today?”

Ulaz threw both poles at Keith, who caught them not as gracefully as his teacher had expected him to.

“Suit yourself. Do you wanna go against me or Shiro?”

“Wait!” Shiro ran towards Ulaz, getting in front of Keith. “You were explaining the trials to me.”

Sighing in resignation, Ulaz sat on the floor. The children glanced at each other and followed suit, sitting right in front of him. Keith lowered the sparring weapons to the floor and paid attention to Ulaz, even though he was already somewhat familiar with the rituals.

“The galra - us, we’re a proud people. We like to follow traditions and we like to grow up and get strong. To evolve. Throughout our lifetime, we attend to a series of rituals that help define those moments for us. It helps us move forward, while never forgetting who we truly are.”

By his side, Keith whispered a low ‘ _wow_ ’, but Shiro didn’t really understand much. That in and of itself made him feel a little embarrassed. Ulaz simply chuckled at his rosy cheeks.

“In two days, those who turned eleven throughout the last star year will get to participate in the soulmates ritual, which will, hopefully, help them find a proper partner for the rest of their lives.”

“I’m gonna be 11 soon!” Shiro shouted excitedly. “Can I participate in the trial too?”

He may not fully understand the trials just yet, but the sooner he gets to experience one, the sooner he’ll get what it means.

Chuckling, Ulaz nodded.

“I don’t see why not. I’ll be happy to guide you through it.”

Keith turned to Shiro. “Who do you think your soulmate will be?”

He paused, thinking.

“I don’t know. I don’t know much about soulmates.” Turning to Ulaz, he waited expectantly.

“I have a pretty good idea,” he replied.

“Who?” both shouted excitedly.

“Ulaz.”

All eyes turned to Thace, waiting by the door. Excusing himself, Ulaz made to him, leaving the two curious children behind.

“I don’t think there’s anyone out there for me. I don’t really see it.” Shiro got up and Keith followed closely behind. “But if there is, I think I would like it if it were you.”

“Yeah,” he smiled. “That sounds cool.”

Then, unexpectedly, Keith raised the wooden poles and thrust them in Shiro’s direction. He barely dodged it.

“Woah, Keith!”

“Let’s train.” He smirked at the other and threw him one of the poles.

Smirking back, Shiro assumed an offensive position, with his body crouched, feet apart and a hand stretched forward.

“Get ready.”

* * *

 

After that day, concentrating on the classes had been a challenge, and one Ulaz was clearly unhappy with. Still, he couldn’t help it. He had never seen a ritual like the one Ulaz had described; it was something new and even if it wasn’t Shiro’s turn to participate yet, he was dying to see it.

The older children, the ones who had already turned eleven and were preparing for the ritual did not come to class again. Probably, they were busy with the preparations.

After class, Shiro approached his teacher again.

“Ulaz, can you tell me how the trial is?”

“What do you wish to know?” he asked while finishing some notes on a datapad.

Shiro figured he could help out by putting the toy swords away.

“What will the other kids do during the trial? What happens in it? Is it like a battle?”

It took Ulaz so long to answer, Shiro thought he wouldn’t at all. But after thinking for a bit, he turned towards Shiro, giving him his full attention.

“The children and I will wear a special suit that can show them things they could not normally see.”

Shiro gasped.

“It happens while they’re sleeping, so I’m afraid you won’t be able to know what will happen inside their dreams.”

He pouted, but kept quiet, listening for more.

“The suits can read their thoughts and will create a mindscape reality based on their past experiences, or maybe hopes for the future. It’s different from group to group, or from one individual to another.”

“And it’ll show them who their soulmate is?”

“Yes, though it isn’t always a vision of the person. It can be a letter from them, or maybe an object that belongs to them. They’ll naturally wake up once the dream sequence is finished and a name will appear somewhere on their body in the form of a soulmark. That name will be the name of their soulmate, or soulmates in many cases.”

“What if nothing shows up?”

“It’s rare but, it doesn’t necessarily mean the person doesn’t have a soulmate. Anyone could potentially be their soulmate. Or just no one.”

“That sounds... incredible.” His eyes grew to the size of plates. “Can I see your soulmark?”

Ulaz chuckled and rolled up his left sleeve. On the back of his wrist, right above his hand, three scribbled lines could be seen, but Shiro had no idea what it was. He still hadn’t learned how to read the galra language properly.

“I can’t read them.” Disappointed, he looked up at his teacher, almost pouting, but Ulaz didn’t give him the straight answer he expected.

“Who do you think my soulmates are?” he asked instead.

“Soulmates, huh? So more than one.” Shiro tapped his index finger on his chin, thinking long and hard about who they could be.

The memory of when Ulaz rescued him came to mind.

“Would... Would Thace be one of them?”

Ulaz did open his mouth to answer, but was cut off by someone approaching from behind.

“We need you off base in half a day. There were some complications with Antok’s mission.”

Shiro bit his bottom lip and bowed his head slightly to greet the chief, Kolivan.

“Did something happen to him?” Ulaz asked nervously, rolling the sleeve down his arm again.

Shiro felt out of place, like he was listening in to something he probably shouldn’t have.

“No, not yet. He’s okay, but they might have found him. I need you to help him out.” He rested a hand on Ulaz’s shoulder.

Ulaz looked down at his feet for a moment, then brought a hand to rest on top of Kolivan’s. “I was supposed to be the guide in tomorrow’s soulmates ritual for the children in this dojo. Can you do it for me?”

Kolivan nodded. Satisfied, Ulaz turned towards Shiro.

“Shiro is eager for his own. He should be of age, next month.”

At that, Kolivan removed his arm from Ulaz’s shoulder and gave him a confused look.

“I don’t believe aliens can participate in the trials.”

Shiro swallowed, but kept still, or as still as a ten-year-old child could be. He wanted to speak up and protest, say he would behave himself. But he knew he couldn’t. It was awful.

“I don’t see why not. You’re expecting Keith to participate in a few years, no?”

“Keith is galra.”

“He is also human, like him.” Ulaz stared down at Shiro. “Don’t worry, you’ll get to participate in the trials as well.”

Would he? Suddenly Shiro felt small. Smaller. The galra have always been taller, but this wasn’t about stature, not physically anyway. He felt like a spy in their network, like he didn’t belong. Admittedly, he was a foreigner, but for the past year, this base has been his home. Wouldn’t it be right for them to treat him like he was also part of it?

Did it really matter much whether or not Shiro was galra like them?

Like Ulaz, Kolivan also turned to Shiro.

“We can discuss this another time.” He faced his partner once more. “For now, get ready to deploy.”

“Sir.”

As his teacher left, Shiro felt impossibly ashamed in front of the leader. In a way, he just felt like he couldn’t measure up to the chief. Or to whatever ideal he had about Shiro.

What could he do to help Kolivan see him as one of them? Was there even something he could do?

He wasn’t a galra, never would be. He didn’t want to be one, he loved being who he was. But regardless of what he was, he now lived among them. Always had, but the Blade actually _was_ home, not a prison. He wasn’t an experiment to these people, he was family.

And yet, he was also not.

* * *

 

“Dad!”

Kolivan knew what it was about before Keith had even entered the room. He came running, small and winded, and stopped only when his body almost collided with Kolivan’s. He leaned down, putting a hand in front of Keith to slow him down when he approached.

“Dad! Ulaz said you won’t let Shiro participate in the trials? Why?”

“Shiro isn’t a galra, like us.”

“Neither am I! Does that mean I can’t participate in it either?” The way he puffed his cheeks out in anger almost made Kolivan reconsider.

Almost.

He grabbed Keith by his sides and raised him up, looking directly in his eyes.

“You are a Blade of Marmora, born and raised here. You’re the son of one of us. You belong here.”

“Shiro does too.”

Kolivan nodded.

“He does. This may be his home, but it doesn’t mean he is one of us.”

“He is, to me.”

He chuckled.

“I’m glad you think so. He is a good child. I’m glad you’re friends. But he still isn’t a galra. I’m sorry, son.”

Still pouting in anger, Keith threw himself forward, wrapping tiny hands around Kolivan’s neck. He hugged the child back, hoping he would understand someday.

“He can still watch the trials however, if he wants to.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

* * *

 

On the day of the ritual, Ulaz, Thace and several of children just turned 11 gathered in the main hall, where most meetings and ceremonies took place. Shiro was not among them.

Instead, Shiro watched from the corner of the room alongside Keith and the other children. They were either too young to take part in the ritual yet or had already been through it. The older ones bragged about their soulmark, enticing the youngsters with the idea that in a few years, they too would have one. They too, would have a partner or more for the rest of their lives.

“This isn’t right.” Crossing his arms, Keith pouted. He was probably more upset Shiro not being in the ritual than Shiro himself was.

He was more disappointed than upset, really.

Shiro shrugged and forced a smile.

“I can understand why Kolivan doesn’t want me to.”

“It doesn’t matter, it’s not fair.”

A galra, much older than the chief, gave a set of clothes to each of the kids in a line, clothing that resembled the uniforms the adults wore.

Ulaz and Thace each touched a child’s shoulder, and guided them through two different doors at the back of the room. On the wall, two screens above each door showed the inside, with each teacher speaking something inaudible to the children, already dressed in their proper uniforms.

Shiro let out a surprised gasp when the scenery in the screens changed - one to complete darkness, the other to a desert, rocky planet. Keith chuckled by his side.

“That’s the, uh, mindscape thing Ulaz mentioned.”

Keith scooted closer to him and whispered in a low voice.

“Dad told me his was a memory of when him, Ulaz, Thace and Antok ran away in a space pirate ship.”

“The chief ran away?” He had to stifle his laughter behind a hand. Keith did the same, but brought up a finger to his mouth, telling him to keep it down. Shiro nodded and spoke lower. “I can’t even begin to imagine that.”

“They hid in the ship and fought against the pirates when they were found.”

“And they weren’t even eleven yet?” He glanced at the chief, his imposing frame much bigger and larger than the old ceremonialist. If someone had told him Kolivan was born a fighter already, he probably would have believed it. “How strong are they?”

Keith considered the question for a while before answering.

“Well, they are the best teachers.”

“And they go on the most dangerous missions.”

“And dad is the chief, so—”

“A lot.” Both spoke in unison.

“But if his mindscape showed him three other kids, how was he supposed to know who was his partner.”

“The soulmark.” Keith pointed to his own arm and rolled up his sleeve. “Remember Ulaz’s?”

“Oh, so that’s why he had three names.”

Keith nodded and they turned forward again, watching the screens. They were black again and the children had returned with the teachers. Ulaz and Thace called forth another two and entered the room again.

Keith was right, it wasn’t fair, but Shiro could understand Kolivan’s precaution. Still, he wanted to be there, be a part of it. It was becoming abundantly clear that the rituals were an ingrained part of their society.

He had to prove to Kolivan that he was worth being part of it.

 

**iv. home is where the heart is**

**4 years later**

 

One thing Shiro learned over the years was that children weren’t the only one who took part in many of the trials from galran tradition.

The room he stood in now was a sacred place within the base. It differed from most of the base in that was it was mostly white, unlike the usual grey metal and the lights shone bright blue, not purple. Instead of new, the walls had bumps and cracks, signs that seemed to hint that it was a much older room than the rest of the place.

“A long time ago we partnered with the alteans for this.” Thace spoke in a low volume, not wanting to be disturb the ceremony.

Shiro vaguely remembered the name from Thace’s history classes. An extinct species that had disappeared from the universe thousands of years ago. A lot of the marmoran history had its roots with the altean civilization, if he remembered correctly. He scooted closer, keeping his hands behind his back just like Thace himself.

In front of them, the chief sat on the floor, holding his ceremonial blade calmly. Antok held a long, purple cloth just by his side and in front of both, an older galra woman stood. She spoke of life and longevity, of peace and war.

“Alteans were deeply bonded with magic, with the royal family having the strongest resonance,” Thace continued.

The older woman picked up Kolivan’s blade and turned around, walking towards what looked like a very ornamental bowl, with curves and patterns he hadn’t seen before. It was filled with bright yellow liquid and she recited more words before dipping the blade inside the bowl.

“They would infuse their most sacred weapons and armor with magic and quintessence, which kept them safe. We don’t have their magic, but we kept the tradition.”

The woman returned the blade to Kolivan, who bowed and accepted it back. Antok brought the purple cloth, drying the sword. As soon as he was done, the blade shone and reverted back to its original size, slightly bigger than a normal knife.

From where he stood, Shiro could only hear a _thank you_ as Kolivan rose up and bowed once again to the ceremony leader.

Though usually ceremonies were performed publicly and with many participants at once, Kolivan usually practiced his rituals alone and not many people came to watch, though it wasn’t forbidden. It just wasn’t encouraged either. He did ask once if that was simply a chief thing, but according to Ulaz, it was more of a Kolivan thing. Kolivan simply liked the peace and quiet better, which helped him focus better.

Still, some galra did come to watch the rituals nonetheless. Antok, Ulaz and Thace were almost always in Kolivan’s rituals, only missing them if they were away on missions. Keith only attended them if they were new performances he had never watched. If it was a vow renewal, he would often skip it in order to train instead, like today.

The ritual of spirit, which Shiro just witnessed, was performed multiple times throughout a galra’s life, though it was the first one Shiro actually saw since coming to the base and he made a point to watch all that he could since he wasn’t allowed to participate in them.

“You’ll be entrusted your own blade after you complete your training with Ulaz. You all will.” Thace glanced at him. “It’s important to renew your vows to your blade, so you never forget who you are, first and foremost - a fighter.”

Shiro nodded and stared at Kolivan again. It seemed impossible to imagine that Kolivan would ever forget what his entire cause was, so the ceremony was likely more for the tradition than for the sake of needing it.

He could identify with that, having known full well what the empire was capable of.

“I doubt I ever could.”

Thace snorted, but smiled proudly at him before reverting his attention to Kolivan.

* * *

 

When he was 11, Shiro wasn’t allowed to participate in the soulmates ritual. At 14, he was also not part of the warrior ritual, which recognized the children’s growth in combat. He was still given the uniform and his first knife, but without the battle ritual the others in his class went though, Shiro almost felt as though he had cheated his way through it.

That’s what he felt as he stared at the knife in his hands. It was much shorter than the blades the adults carried on the back, but had a similar design and the traditional mark of their society embedded in the center.

Shiro looked up, staring at Kolivan’s back. The chief may not have allowed him to take part in the rituals, but still wanted him to be a part of their missions. He wanted to make Kolivan proud.

It was that thought that drove him to jump out of the ship along with Kolivan, Keith and Antok. Keith held tight onto Kolivan’s shoulders as they reached solid ground. Antok took Shiro in his arms instead, immediately letting go once his large feet absorbed the impact.

In a moment, Keith and Shiro were running up ahead, side by side. Two sentries came forward and positioned themselves to fire, but they deflected the attack. They jumped and hit the sentries in the head with a powerful kick, sending them flying.

Antok took care of a flying turret, sending it crashing down in a ball of flame.

After that, they split into two - Antok and Keith went to the right, the path that would take them to the hangar where they’d cause a distraction in the empire base, while Kolivan and Shiro ran to the left, leading them to the command center.

Once Kolivan uploaded the virus, it shut down the base and they managed to escape easily. From space, they set off explosives that would ensure that facility would never be used again. It wasn’t a crucial base, given by the fact that it wasn’t heavily guarded in the first place, but still had to be dealt with in the grand scheme of things.

Back in the ship, Kolivan ruffled Keith’s head and smiled at Shiro.

“Good job, you two.”

The kids shared a smile at each other.

* * *

 

Above the main hall stood several circular walkways extending all the way to the ceiling. People could come and gather in them to witness the trials and rituals they performed, they were proud of making it a public spectacle of their society. Shiro walked around the third floor walkway, glancing down at where some of the workers prepared for another upcoming soulmates ritual. Keith followed closely behind him, also paying close attention to them.

“Just a few more days, huh?” Shiro stopped close to a pillar and pressed his hands to the metal fence. From the corner of his eyes, he could see how Keith was trying very hard to suppress his excitement.

“It’s the first ritual we face in our entire lives. Well, excluding the ones for babies, but. It doesn’t count if you can’t remember them.”

“Excited?”

Keith fidgeted with his hands.

“Mostly anxious.”

For a good reason, Shiro thought. Being the chief’s son, it went without saying that all eyes would be glued on him. Expecting, waiting. No one was bold enough to tell Keith how important his ritual was supposed to be, but the entire atmosphere in the base changed as it approached.

People had high expectations for whoever got to be his soulmate.

“They talk about you, you know,” Keith whispered. “How it’s obvious that my soulmark is going to read your name.”

He knew, and it wasn’t anything new. He swallowed dryly, holding the metal fence tighter.

“We don’t know that yet.”

“Yeah.”

But it was clear, even to the both of them. If it was any other name but Shiro’s, they would be surprised.

“Even if it’s someone else’s name, it doesn’t matter. I already got you.”

“Woah, Keith! That’s not nice. Isn’t the whole point of this trial to get to know who your soulmate is? You have to give them a chance, get to know them.”

Keith merely shrugged, but avoided eye contact. He knew Shiro was right.

“Don’t wanna.” Keith pouted and crossed his arms over the fence, resting his chin on top of them. “Dad told me a long time ago my mother participated in the ritual and, well,” he closed his eyes. “She didn’t really get a name. She had no one. Then she went to Earth, and met my real father. Even though she didn’t have a soulmate, she picked him.” He straightened up and finally turned to Shiro. “Isn’t that what true soulmates are? She chose my father. Kolivan chose to keep me. You chose to stay with us, here, on this base. I chose you. It doesn’t matter what the soulmark reads.” Keith returned to his previous, more relaxed position and continued to watch the preparations for the trial down below. “I’ve made my choice.”

There was nothing he could really say to that, so Shiro joined him in watching the workers as well.

“You would be my choice too.”

* * *

 

Shiro had watched the rituals every year since he was brought to base. He knew there were always people watching, usually friends, family, people cheering on their children. Even the few aliens aboard the base enjoyed watching them. It unified people, helped them keep tight bonds.

But he knew the reason why this year’s soulmates ritual was particularly crowded with observers was because everyone was curious about the chief’s son being a part of it. Knowing that they also half expected Shiro to be bonded for life to Keith made him curl his hands into fists so tightly his nails hurt his skin even through the gloves he wore.

It didn’t help that Kolivan himself sat just by his side. He could feel all the eyes turned to them.

“Don’t let the pressure get to you.”

Shiro quickly looked up at the chief, who noticed his hands shaking.

“That’s easier said than done.” Shiro’s voice was hoarse as he spoke. “But I’ll try.”

“The way I see it, there are only two possible outcomes from this. Your name is written on Keith’s soulmark, or it’s not.”

“I’m not sure which one people want to be true.”

“Does it matter what others want?”

It didn’t, in the sense that Shiro had already accepted Keith’s resolution. But this was bigger than the two of them.

“Shouldn’t it? He’s your son. Keith’s shaping out to be a great leader like you. He’s been training for it since even before I got here. No one would expect a lesser partner for him.”

Kolivan made a face, as though he was thinking. Or maybe just disappointed with Shiro’s answer. It was hard to say, with how serious he always was, and Shiro’s anxiety wasn’t helping him focus either. What _did_ Kolivan expect of him? What was he supposed to say?

“Can you think of anyone who’s worthy?”

Shiro bit his lips. He couldn’t.

“I can think of a couple of people who could be his partner.” Kolivan discreetly pointed a finger in the direction of the ritual. “Ulaz, for one. He’s been taking care of Keith since he was born and I know that Keith has a higher emotional attachment to him than he does to me. Keith thinks highly of him.”

That took him by surprise. He had been told the soulmarks revealed all sorts of partners, people they’d spend the rest of their lives with. It wasn’t just about friendship, sometimes it was two siblings, two people who couldn’t stand each other. So long as fate had them stay together, it didn’t matter the nature of their relationship. But he only heard about it; he hadn’t actually seen an example of it. Out of every galra he had met at the base, he knew there was a lot more to their relationship with their soulmates than just friendship. He had a hard time imagining a soulmark that wasn’t about two friends or two lovers.

“I can think of myself, as I have every intention of helping Keith become the soldier he wants to be. This is what I do here, I help lead these people to create a future where their sons and daughters can live without fear of the empire. It’s what I hope to achieve, for myself and for my son.”

“But it’s not what they expect. It’s not what anyone expects.” Shiro immediately bit his tongue. Had he spoken out of turn? He shouldn’t have spoken at all.

“It’s not what you expect either, is it?”

Meekly, he shook his head.

“No, sir.”

At that, Kolivan smiled. The features of his face softened and his shoulders relaxed.

“You’ve been with us for a few years. Can you tell who my soulmates are based on your instincts?”

“Ulaz, Thace and Antok.” When Kolivan nodded in agreement, Shiro felt the need to admit he had cheated. “Well, Keith told me about it before.”

“And…?” He raised an eyebrow.

“And what?” Genuine confusion crossed his face. Was he supposed to know more?

“Hmm… I suppose Keith didn’t tell you everything then.”

Shiro blinked in surprise as Kolivan opened his hands in front of them. He carefully removed the gloves and slowly opened his palms again, revealing two names on one side and two on the other. He immediately recognized the two on the right palm - Thace and Ulaz. On the right hand, the first line had Antok’s name, but he couldn’t read the fourth one. It wasn’t anyone he knew of.

“Four? You have four soulmarks? I thought… But Ulaz only has three.”

It made no sense. How could one of them have more soulmarks than the others? Was that even possible?

The chief put on the gloves again and his voice remained low.

“It was Keith’s mother, my sister.”

“Keith said she didn’t have a mark.”

Kolivan nodded. “She didn’t. She was meant to be one of my partners for life, but I wasn’t for her. It’s just how it was. In the end, I was the partner for the rest of her life, but she never was much of a constant presence in my life, with how she traveled farther and farther away.”

“She made her choice.” Shiro still remembered how Keith said those words. “And picked Earth.”

“And I made mine.” Kolivan closed his hands. “I chose Keith.”

Finally, Ulaz took Keith inside, and the hall fell silent. For the longest time Shiro wondered what Keith’s mindscape would be, but now that it was happening, he barely paid attention to it. Too much was going on through his head.

Kolivan had a soulmark that he chose to pursue, but never managed to reach. His soulmate had no mark, but chose a different planet to spend the rest of her days on. Keith was still a part of her, could he be considered the reason why Kolivan had his sister’s name as a soulmark? Was Keith an extension of it?

He always thought soulmarks were simple and straightforward, but the more he learned, the more he realized how complex they really were.

“I can also think of you as a possible candidate.” Kolivan’s voice brought him back to the trial. “Keith chose you. I don’t need to see a mark on his skin to know that.”

Heat spread across Shiro’s face, though he couldn’t exactly say why. It’s not like he didn’t already know that, but it still felt weird to hear it out loud.

“I can tell you chose him too.”

Shiro quickly turned to Kolivan, but the chief was still watching the screen where Keith’s mindscape was shown. It then faded to black and Ulaz walked out of the room with Keith. Their teacher was saying something to him, but from the distance, Shiro couldn’t hear it.

“I shouldn’t have stopped you from taking the trial all those years ago.”

Surprised and confused, Shiro blinked up at him.

“Sir…”

“If Keith has the right to the rituals, so do you, even if you don’t share our blood.”

He could feel himself shaking and swallowed hard even though his throat was dry. He’s waited so long for this and now he doesn’t know what to say.

“Ulaz was right.” He reached for Shiro’s shoulder, gripping it tightly. “This is your home. Always has been.” A pause. “I’ll see to it that Ulaz prepares for your trial in the upcoming days.”

He felt his mouth open to say something, but nothing came out. Closing it and swallowing again, Shiro nodded and looked at his own feet.

“I... thank you.”

“Go.”

The chief gently pushed Shiro forward, making him stumble a bit before he ran off towards Keith and Ulaz.

He couldn’t hear what they were saying from the distance, but from the children’s faces it was obvious.

Everyone had been right about Keith’s soulmate.

* * *

 

Unfortunately, a lot of people were off base when Shiro’s ritual was scheduled to happen. Maybe that was for the better, after all. It was a weird ritual, Shiro would feel embarrassed if there had been eyes on him again. For starters, he wasn’t 11 anymore, he was 14, way past the age when the soulmates ritual traditionally happens. Second, he was the only one for this particular trial. Usually it was held publicly, with several children at once. But this year’s ritual had already passed and this was a special occasion. Though as Kolivan had told him, it was merely a formality, as anyone could tell what Shiro’s soulmark was going to be.

But he deserved to have his soulmark, to have a name on his skin like everyone else. The chief told him that much.

Admittedly, he was sad that Keith couldn’t have watched it. After Keith’s own ritual, he went off base with Thace for a mission and wasn’t supposed to return for a few days yet.

Ulaz held his hands behind his back, feet rooted to the ground.

“Walk with me.”

So Shiro did. The path was a long straight hallway, round in shape and white illuminating the path as they walked.

“What is this place?” Belatedly, he added, “Sir.”

“Your trial, like everyone else’s, isn't selected by us. It's selected by yourself.”

He didn't get it, not really, but was too shy to ask for more. He wanted to make Ulaz proud, not embarrass him by asking something that might be common knowledge among the marmorites.

“I'll accompany you, as a teacher, your guide and your judge. I can't help you figure out your objective, but I am here to ensure your safety.”

Shiro reached behind, lightly touching the handle of his knife. It wasn't a real one, not like the ceremonial blades the others had. It was just a plain old knife, something he used to protect himself. Still, he was happy to have earned one at all.

One day, he would have a real one.

“Is it… dangerous?”

“I wouldn't know. Some trials are easy. Some are relaxing. Some are extremely dangerous. It all depends on what your mind will show us.”

 _My mind…_ “Should I think happy thoughts?”

“I’m afraid that won’t be of much use.” He snickered.

At the end of the hallway, a hexagonal door greeted them. Ulaz stepped in front of him, hand hovering over the panel to the left.

“Ready?”

“Yes.”

Ulaz pressed a few buttons, a combination of codes before letting the device scan his hand. The door opened immediately to white smoke at his feet and a blinding white light. Covering his eyes with his hand, Shiro took a step back, but stopped when he felt his mentor clasp his shoulder.

“You can do this.”

In a few seconds, the brightness diminished to the point where he could actually open his eyes.

In front of him, he saw purple, but of an entirely different kind. He knew this place well enough.

“Galra ship.” Shiro whispered, more to himself than to Ulaz. A shiver ran down his spine. Of all the places he expected to be thrown into, he never imagined this.

But if that’s what the mindscape had in store for him, he could take it.

“Let’s go.”

Shiro grabbed the knife on his back and drifted inaudibly through familiar corridors. A common galra ship, he recognized. Having spent years trapped in one, he knew well enough how to navigate through it. It came to him as naturally as the place he called home in the Blade.

The thought of comparing it to _home_ was rather awkward but not entirely away from the truth. He could admit that much. He was born and mostly raised inside of such ships. Sentry itineraries, corridors, it was all too familiar. As sickening as it was, at the very least he was making good use of those memories at present.

As he turned right onto a fork, he could hear the steps from one, maybe two sentries. Both of them quickly hid behind the corner and waited for the sentries to pass them. One look at Ulaz and the mentor simply nodded at him. That was all the encouragement he needed.

He ran forward and leapt, grabbing one of the sentries by their shoulder and sticking the knife in their back. When the other turned around to see what happened, he quickly jumped to the floor again and swung his leg up in the air. It hit the hands, making it drop its weapon. It ended when Shiro stuck the knife square in its face.

He ran again, Ulaz on his tail, and trusted his instincts to navigate through the place.

It led him to the prison, where he remembered spending most of his days in. A thought belatedly occurred to him that maybe he should’ve gone to the pits instead. What was his objective anyway?

Shiro had one disadvantage from not being a galra: he couldn’t interact with their technology. That’s why Ulaz stepped forward and opened the first cell. As the metal doors slipped open, Shiro took a good look inside.

He froze in place. He knew those people. He had seen them before, lived with them before. Back when he was still a prisoner.

They were people he had shared cells with, in the past. But none of them had aged. The old man with a bald spot should probably have a lot less hair now. The baby he could hear crying every day through the walls dividing their cells, she should be much older at the moment, but was quietly sleeping in her mother’s arms.

Something just didn’t feel right.

“Wait, is this…” Shiro ran to another door on his right and Ulaz followed him. “This one, quick!”

Ulaz did as he was told.

Inside he found his mother, father and a child - a younger version of himself.

“Wow.”

They looked at him as though Shiro was a stranger. The younger version of himself simply stared at him with curious eyes, his parents stared with fear.

He had to act, quickly.

“We’re—” He shook his head and focused. “We’re here to help you out. Follow us!”

Shiro nodded at Ulaz, who proceeded to open the remaining doors.

Even though he was just a small kid when the prison break happened, four years ago, Shiro still remembered it well. The way he couldn’t make out the words from the Blade members because he didn’t understand the galran language back then. The way he got so scared when Ulaz and Thace showed up at his door.

Naturally he didn’t know them back then. Now, he couldn’t imagine his life without those two.

As they ran, some of people following him started talking, asking questions. That hadn’t happened in his memories, when everyone followed the two Blades without saying a single word. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that Shiro was just like them, made them feel more secure somehow.

“Who are you?”

“Why are you here?”

“Where are you taking us?”

He didn’t know what to say.

“I—”

“Eyes up ahead!” Ulaz cried and got ahold of his own blade, rushing up ahead.

Without thinking twice, Shiro tightened the grip around his own knife and jumped up ahead. Two sentries lifted their weapons, aiming for the both of them. Ulaz deflected the shot with his blade as a shield, Shiro dodged it just in time. Together, they each struck the robotic sentries with the blades. A whirring sound could be heard as they fell still and lifeless to the ground.

Instinctively, Shiro grabbed the gun from the one he took down. Ulaz made a face, but didn’t speak up on it, so he figured he would keep it rather than drop it. It could still come in handy.

For the rest of the way down the corridor, they kept a slower pace, trying to be alert to other Galra around the ship.

Just like Shiro remembered, once the corridor ended, the hangar appeared. Several fighter ships stood in endless rows around the room, with one, in particular, catching his eye: a vessel that had a much slimmer, elongated shape than the others, and difference shades of black and purple.

Just like it happened in his past.

After receiving a nod from Ulaz, Shiro ran forward. The steps from the prisoners echoed behind him.

He specifically remembered this part well, the first time he met Keith. It had been surprising to see a human child, alone in the middle of the hangar. Someone who looked just like him, not like the galra, not like the other adults in his cell. A potential friend.

Shiro also remembered Keith had been behind the marmoran ship, only his feet visible underneath it on the other side. He was taller now, he couldn’t see properly under the ship, but he promptly made his way to the other side.

What he saw was not the tiny child from his memories, but his current friend. Still a bit shorter than Shiro himself, but he was most definitely older. He looked just like Shiro remembered seeing him every day: bolder, confident, taller, starting to build some muscle.

“You made it.” Keith smiled and opened the door for the ship. “Quick, just get everyone in.”

He didn’t need to be told twice.

Although the prisoners were still scared, they seemed at least a bit more comfortable after noticing another human.

After making sure all were on board, Ulaz made to drive the ship while Shiro was torn between the co-pilot seat or going in the back with Keith and the others. In the end, he decided to help Ulaz in the front. It felt like the right thing to do, even if he still wanted to go back and help Keith with the others.

Then everything went black.

The prisoners, the ship itself, everything was gone and Shiro found himself floating in an endless dark room, only Ulaz by his side.

“What happened?” he asked, looking from one side to the other. “Where did they go? Did I fail?”

Shiro jumped when he felt a cold hand on his left arm. Turning back, he saw Keith was still there. It seemed like he wanted to say something, but neither spoke up. Even Ulaz was forgotten, almost as if, like the others, he had disappeared as well. Shiro could only think about how the hand was slowly warming up on his skin.

Just like that, Shiro woke up.

His first instinct was to prop himself up on his arm, glancing around. He was in a circular room. He didn’t remember how he got there, only that he went through the door Ulaz had opened and suddenly everything was white.

In a moment Ulaz was in front of him, offering him a hand.

“You should take a look at that arm of yours.”

“Oh.”

Shiro quickly opened the back of his suit until his belly and pulled his arm from it. He probably shouldn’t have been surprised, having seen the other kids with their own marks, but it still amazed him that he, in fact, had Keith’s written name on his skin, right where he had touched him in the mindscape.

Unlike the other kids, however, his mark was in plain English.

“I can read it!”

Not that he couldn’t read galran, because he had to when he started living in their base, but he was too surprised to make sense of his own words.

Ulaz simply nodded.

“I’ve heard of marks in other languages before. It really all depends on where the person was born and not all of us were born here.” He crossed his arms, thoughtful. “But this is the first time I’ve actually witnessed it.”

Two fingers hovered over the mark before he mustered the courage to touch it. It was still a bit warm, like in the mindscape. It was just a name, and it wasn’t a ritual Shiro was familiar with. For all intents and purposes, he shouldn’t have cared as much.

Still, he did. A lot. Maybe it was the fact that he had been denied it for three years. Maybe it was because he did feel a connection to Keith and was happy he now had Keith’s name to show, just as Keith had his. Maybe it was both. Whatever the reason, he felt like he could finally close the curtains on a case that had been bothering him for the past few years.

Dressing up again, he nodded to Ulaz and they exited the room. On the other side, his parents and Kolivan waited for him. It was a shame he couldn’t proudly show it to Keith right away, but it didn’t matter. The mark would still be there when Keith returned from his mission.

His parents hugged him. When he looked up, Kolivan smiled down at him, and he lifted a hand to Shiro’s shoulder. He had a tight, reassuring grip.

Somehow, Shiro didn’t have to say anything for Kolivan to understand that he did, in fact, get Keith’s name. The chief seemed to be just as proud as Shiro himself was, but he tried to shake the thought away as wishful thinking.

The last time he had been this happy was when the Blade had showed up to rescue him and his parents.

 

**v. in and out**

**4 years later**

 

The Murel system was well known for being practically deserted. The planets were too far away from their stars, and temperatures could easily reach some of the lowest in space. The few rocky planets that seemed warm enough to live on had terrible storms that made construction impossible.

No water, no oxygen, no real piece of rock floating in space they could land on and form a colony.

Because of its harsh conditions and plenty of open space for maneuvers, it was the perfect hiding spot for empire cargo freighters to temporarily stash their weapons before resuming their trip to headquarters.

On his eighteenth birthday, Shiro was assigned to infiltrate one such freighter and steal their weapons before they knew what hit them. Ulaz was his partner for the mission, not as a teacher or a mentor anymore, but as an equal.

“I have a visual.” Shiro spoke. “Engaging cloaking shield.”

Their ship, tiny enough for only the both of them and the cargo they were about to steal, was just small enough to run stealth engines that made them virtually imperceptible to any scanners or radars for about five minutes.

“Slow and steady.”

Shiro pulled the lever, increasing speed to get to the freighter ship faster, but slowed down as soon as they approached port side.

Behind him, Ulaz finished dressing in his empire armor, with only the mask left. It rested comfortably on his vacant seat.

“Good. Can you relay the plan to me once again?”

It was a test.

“You’re going to get in and open the hatch for me,” –since he couldn’t actually open the door by himself. “Once we’re in, I’m to act as your prisoner. We clear the way to the armory, get the cargo and return here before they know what hit them.”

Ulaz nodded proudly.

“Same as usual, right?” he touched Shiro’s shoulder, gripping it firmly.

Each mission diverged a little from one another, but for the most part, Shiro was more than familiar with the plan. He had come on countless missions in the past with Thace and done almost the same thing every time.

What made this mission so different was the fact that this time, Shiro was the commander. A little gift from the chief, who told him he was inspiring in front of his fellow Blades. Although he wasn’t fond of the idea, Ulaz and Thace both encouraged him so much that he couldn’t quite decline the offer.

“I like routine.” Shiro closed his mask after Ulaz did the same. Pressing a button on the panel, the door of their ship opened and Ulaz readied his jet pack. “It’s safe.”

Ulaz jumped off the ship and onto the freighter. It wasn’t a battle ship, so it had little to no canons. He went straight to the main hatch and connected it to his arm, where he could hack it open. Once main security protocols were down, he simply pressed his palm to the scanner. That did it and the hatch started opening for Shiro.

He landed the ship safely inside and jumped out, removing his mask once Ulaz closed the hatch and he could breathe inside the freighter.

Like his partner, he also wore a costume different from usual, but his was that of a prisoner of the empire. Putting his hands behind his back, he let Ulaz “guide” him into the ship.

As expected, there weren’t many onboard. Most of them were mechanical sentries who didn’t spare a single glance in their direction. Whenever they did come across a galra soldier, Ulaz would push a weapon against his back and order him to walk faster. That would make them turn away and carry on as usual.

The problem came in the form of a surprisingly small galra once they reached the room where the cargo was stored.

“Ah, glad you’re here with my—” The galra blinked, ears moving erratically, and squinted at them. “What is this?”

Shiro almost panicked and lunged forward to attack. Almost. Fortunately, Ulaz was faster and held his shoulders in place, as though containing his prisoner.

“Special delivery for the gladiator rings.” He knocked his knuckles against the back of Shiro’s head as gently as possible, but Shiro still gave him a look. “I was asked to keep an eye on this one.”

For a moment, silent.

Shiro was itching to just move forward and quickly knock him out. But then, the galra soldier smiled and clasped his hands together.

“Most excellent!” He moved forward, walking in slow circles around Shiro like a vulture. “The emperor will be more than overjoyed to know that I, Morvok, will be the one delivering such a gift to him.”

Shiro contained the urge to roll his eyes.

“You may go.” The self-entitled Morvok waved towards Ulaz. “I’ll keep an eye on him instead.”

Oops.

“Those aren’t my orders, sir.”

“Ah yes, your _orders_ ,” Morvok gestured quotation marks in the air. “Except, as you may already have noticed, you are just a lowly soldier and I am the commander here. So please, leave.”

All it took was an exchange of glances before Shiro put everything he had into rolling forward, crouching to grab a small knife on his back, hidden underneath the top, and strike forward to hit Morvok where it mattered.

But Morvok was, surprisingly, fast enough to deflect by jumping three feet away.

“What is the meaning of this?” he exclaimed in shock.

The two ignored him and Shiro turned back to face Ulaz. In a second, Ulaz had his weapon towards Morvok and ready to fire, but both got distracted when a particle wall raised from the ground, keeping Shiro trapped with all the goods on one side of the room, while Ulaz and Morvok stood on the other side, close to the door.

Suddenly, Morvok’s laughter and a siren filled the room. Lights blinked red and in a second, several dozen soldiers appeared with their own weapons turned towards Ulaz.

“Just kidding,” the galra commander cackled. “You really think I am that much of a fool? We’re alone here. My ship is the only one in this battle station for the next two hours and I most certainly do not remember giving any of my crew an order to restrain any alien prisoners. Now, put your weapon on the ground and I’ll—”

Ulaz fired at Morvok, hitting him in the chest. The commander yelped and dropped the remote he used to alert security.

In an instant, bullets were flying in every direction. Shiro was safe due to the barrier, but his heart raced as he saw Ulaz run like never before past the flying bullets and among the other soldiers.

Amidst Morvok’s pathetic screams and the sound of Ulaz’s blade cutting open the soldiers, Shiro felt his confidence waver for a moment.

Ulaz stepped on the remote while dispatching another soldier who flew into the wall trapping Shiro with the cargo. The soldier’s body convulsed with the electric current coursing through his body and fell to the ground, at the same time the wall disappeared.

Although everything happened faster than Shiro could see, it seemed as though time had stopped for him. For a second he didn’t even remember why he was there in the first place. In the next, he ran past a soldier towards Ulaz and they both knocked out a sentry each. The remaining soldiers took a cautionary step backwards.

“Change of plans, forget the cargo. Let’s get out of here.”

Ulaz nodded and they ran towards the soldiers.

Their goal was one: keep alive long enough to defeat the empire. Some stolen weapons weren’t worth two of their best soldiers.

But neither of them expected the ship to self-destruct. They weren’t prepared.

* * *

 

It wasn’t that Thace enjoyed the gladiator matches, but it made his job as a spy much easier.

When the galra got together to relax, drink and bet on matches among prisoners, they were much more vulnerable and prone to open up about their current work within the empire. That was usually how he found out the best routes for the Blade to work on, the best places to attack, the less guarded ships to sabotage.

Seated high up on the coliseum, he paid little attention to the aliens in the match. Instead, he listened intently to three galra in front of him, laughing, cheering.

“Did you hear about Morvok?” the taller one spoke.

“Who?” asked a double horned galra. His horns were just two calcium bones protruding just above his ears.

“That little guy who kept bragging about getting in the hub?” The third one had the red uniform, signalizing he was a commander. “What about him?”

“Heard he was ransacked by space pirates and went down, poof.” The first one opened his hands in front of him. “Went down like fireworks, ship in flames with the self-destruction code.”

Adjusting himself in his seat, Thace just barely avoided grinning at that. A few weeks ago, he was the one who found out Morvok had been demoted to a freighter commander and forwarded the mission to Ulaz and his trainees. If memory served him right, chief Kolivan told him Ulaz took Shiro in the mission with him.

“Yeah?” The commander shrugged. “Served him right.”

The other two galra laughed.

“At least he took down the space pirates with him.”

As they continued to laugh over Morvok’s misfortunes, Thace immediately turned his head in their direction, a cold shiver running down his spine. He hadn’t heard back from them again, but he usually didn’t in the first place. He figured Ulaz had simply returned and reported back directly to Kolivan. Surely, he was fine.

“A couple less space pirates to deal with.” The horned galra tapped his own knee, leaning forward. “The one good thing Morvok ever did.”

Thace’s claws clasped his seat tightly. He had to contact Kolivan immediately to make sure.

* * *

 

Although risky, Kolivan personally led a search party all across the Murel system. He had to know, they all had to know if their best soldier and alien fighters had in fact been killed in action. They tried, they searched, they visited neighboring planets, but there were no signs of Ulaz or Shiro anywhere.

Just like the commander of the freighter they attacked, they were simply gone.

If they survived the explosion, they would try to activate an SOS ping. If they had any means of contacting the base, they would have reported back to them. If they had been captured, one of their spies would have seen signs of Ulaz or Shiro back in the empire’s headquarters (and Kolivan is confident Thace would personally look into this himself), if they had been killed in action, their bodies would have been exposed by the empire as an example of what happened to traitors.

But there was nothing. Whatever remained of the freighter ship was collected by the empire to be used as parts for newer models. Kolivan never managed to find out what exactly happened to Morvok, if the empire simply didn’t care and left his body to rot in open space, or if the commander was cremated by the flames of the ship in the first place, but he suspected the latter was the case.

After a month of searching in a system that was well-known for being mostly empty space, the fact that none of their radars detected waves from their ship, it finally started to sink in that much like Morvok, Ulaz and Shiro were probably gone as well.

Thinking about it made his head spin.

* * *

 

Keith knew his family well enough to know that the Blade hardly ever made any mistakes. He knew Shiro well enough to know that Shiro was a skilled soldier and that he wouldn't have failed on such a simple mission.

When news about Shiro being missing in action arrived, he didn't really believe it. Something inside him knew Shiro was still there.

The mark on his shoulder still burned his skin whenever he thought of Shiro.

He was out there, and he was going to find him.

 

**Several months later**

 

Keith silently followed Kolivan through the empty corridors of the base. It wasn’t uncommon for them to deploy while most were still sleeping, but not so usual that he would consider it casual. The fact that Kolivan didn’t say anything about where they were going, or what their mission was going to be, only increased his suspicion, but he knew when to take orders and when to defy them.

When they arrived in the hangar, the lights were off and there wasn’t anyone preparing their ship for departure. Instead, Kolivan was the one to input the commands on the screen to remotely bring the ship forward and open the hangar.

Keith checked that his suit and mask were tightly secured once more before following his father into the ship. Once inside, he opened his visor and glanced at Kolivan.

“So, care to explain what this is all about?”

But silence was all he got in response. Sighing, Keith tried from another angle.

“You do realize that I at least need to know what we’re doing so I can ensure we succeed, right?”

Once more, Kolivan didn’t say anything. Resigned, Keith crossed his arms and faced forward, at least trying to read the charts on the screen. None of it made sense.

Just as he was about to vocalize his confusion, light filled the ship, as though a star had gone supernova in front of him. Jaw falling, Keith held tight to his seat and watched dumbfounded as it turned into a giant blue hole in the sky.

“What the—?”

“Hold tight.”

Kolivan steered the ship to enter the hole. It reminded him of when the ships jumped into hyper drive mode, but different.

“A wormhole?” Keith turned to Kolivan. He had heard about it from Ulaz, remembered reading about how alteans used it for interstellar traveling. But just like them, the technology was dead, long forgotten.

His father nodded.

“Keith, I need you to keep this a secret from everyone.”

Slowly, Keith nodded.

“I mean _everyone_. Even Antok. Even Thace.” For the first time, Keith actually seemed to understand how serious the mission was.

“What is this? Where are we going, what are we doing?”

“A few months ago, while looking for Ulaz and Shiro, I came across some information. So I had Slav run some tests for me.”

He remembered the name Slav, though he never actually met him. Ulaz called him lucky for it, but he wasn’t sure why.

“What tests?”

“This.”

The ship came out of the wormhole to reveal a much larger space ship floating adrift. It was mostly white with lights blinking in blue. It seemed as though the engines were going into critical failure at any minute now.

“An encrypted distress call from this ship.”

“Is it safe? What if it’s a trap? Isn’t that all the more reason as to why we should have more people in this mission?”

Kolivan went silent again for a moment and slowly steered the ship to dock against the larger one.

“Those are precisely the tests I had Slav run on it.” They cloaked their visors again and Kolivan prepared to open the hatch. “This is a true altean ship and the signal is real.”

Kolivan hacked his entrance to the ship, something no doubt Slav helped him with as well. Keith moved along with him, noticing the bad state of the ship. There was no gravity, no air and no lights. He clicked the side of his helmet, turning on the flashlights on his mask. It lit up the way to reveal a deserted ship.

“There’s nothing and no one in here.”

But his father ignored him and pushed forward, floating along the empty corridors. Without many other options, he simply followed, but kept his sense heightened to anything out of the ordinary.

They eventually came to a stop once Kolivan opened the door to what was clearly the command room. The entire front wall was a huge window of glass, and it was the only room that actually had a few emergency lights on. None of the computers or screens were activated. For all intents and purposes, the ship was dead.

Keith got lost in thought, admiring the ancient technology, and was only brought back by the sound of mumbling. He floated closer to Kolivan, only to realize he was looking for something. Eventually he settled for a pedestal in the middle of the room.

“Slav told me this should work,” he turned to face Keith seriously. “After debating on the probability of it working in this reality for two minutes.”

“That guy seems like a real piece of work, from what Ulaz told me.”

“You have no idea.”

Kolivan’s voice strained as he used all his strength to pull the core of the pedestal out. He connected some cables from his suit to it, giving it just enough boost to start up. His fingers tapped quickly upon the core and soon, two panels on the floor opened up, like doors sliding open.

Intrigued, Keith pushed himself to one of the holes. White smoke came out of it and a giant pod slipped out of each hole, floating freely outside. Part of it was covered in glass, but it was too dark and too clouded to see what was inside. As he got closer, the contents started to reveal itself.

What he saw was the face of a girl, peacefully sleeping as if nothing could disturb her. She didn't seem much older than himself, and had beautiful curly hair cascading down the sides of her shoulders.

“They’re… like coffins.” Keith held onto the pod he was staring at, while Kolivan grabbed the other one.

“Cryopods. They’re still alive; help me move them to the ship.”

They held onto the pods, floating back to the hangar they entered from. Once safely inside their own ship, Keith had a myriad of questions to ask, but Kolivan spoke before he had the chance to voice them.

“My informant told me of the existence of a different reality, much like Slav always talks about. I didn’t pay too much attention to it at first, until Slav built a teludav, which we knew from the history books was capable of creating wormholes. So I came here, to this reality looking for Ulaz and Shiro, but found alteans instead.”

Keith turned back, watching the pods in the back of the ship.

“Wow. So they really do exist yet. But what now?” he turned to Kolivan, helping him set up coordinates back to the base. “What does this mean for us?”

“We keep them safe. If my suspicions are right, then one of these two alteans might help us turn the war in our favor.”

Hopeful yet confused, Keith leaned forward. “How?”

“Zarkon can never never learn about this. Do you understand why I can’t even tell Thace or the others about this? Thace is one of our spies. If he is captured or interrogated, they can never take this information out of him if Thace doesn’t have it in the first place. The empire must never know that we have the key to winning this war.”

He still didn’t understand, but decided to let it go. If Kolivan was set on not explaining something, no one could change his mind about it.

“But how are we going to hide them?”

“The same way they’ve been kept hidden this entire time. We fold space-time in our favor.”

* * *

 

Keith almost felt like a spy on his own home as he helped his father take the pods out of the ship and into base without alerting anyone. For the most part, Kolivan seemed to have taken care of it: no guards in the hangar, lights in the corridors turned off. They carried the pods all the way back to Kolivan’s room, but that’s where Keith met another surprise.

Someone else was already in there, an alien he had never seen before.

“Oh, you’re back.” The alien had a heavy accent and multiple tiny arms he gestured freely. “Seems like you did just fine out there.”

“Keith, this is Slav, our top-secret engineer.”

Keith bowed to show respect slightly, but kept his disappointment to himself. Somehow he had expected Slav to be more impressive, though he couldn’t say why.

The engineer ran forward, touching the glass of one of the pods.

“You haven’t opened them yet?”

“I was hoping you could confirm it was safe to open it first.”

“Not to worry.” Slav quickly inserted some codes to the side of the pod, and they stirred to life. “I’m almost sure this reality is the one where the pods don’t explode, increasing our chances of success in 68%.”

“Wow, he is something.” Keith snorted.

“Aaand done.”

Slav jumped back as the glass slowly opened and the cold air spilled to the room. Kolivan and Keith, however, took the opportunity to get closer, to actually see if they could bring back, in this reality, someone who has been long since considered dead.

The pod he opened first was that of the girl. She stirred tiredly for a while and slowly rose up, rubbing her eyes.

“Wha—where... ?” Confusion was written on her face as she woke up. Her eyes drifted from Slav to Keith and finally to Kolivan, and she jumped back with a yelp. She almost tripped down out of the pod, but luckily Slav helped her up. “Galra? Guards!”

Keith raised his arms, signalizing for her to stop yelling.

“It’s fine, we’re—”

“Princess?” A sleepy voice coming from the other pod made everyone turn their attentions to the man rising from the pod. His hair and mustache were of a vibrant, unique red color.

“Oh, Coran!”

She ran to his arms and the two hugged each other, seemingly ignoring the other three in the room. Kolivan took a step forward, but attempted to soften up his posture after her reaction to him.

“Princess.” He bowed and knelt to the ground. “It’s good to see you well.”

“Hold on.” Keith intervened. “How do you know her?” he pointed to the girl. “And who are you?”

Kolivan rose to his feet again and held his hands behind his back, hopefully showing her he had no intentions of attacking. Despite that, she still stared at him like he was demon.

“I could ask the same of you.” The so-called princess spoke. “This is clearly not my ship, so I take it we have been captured. Who are you?”

“My name is Kolivan. This is my son, Keith, and that is Slav. They both helped me get you out of your cryopods. Unfortunately, your ship was too damaged to recover. You aren’t prisoners and we aren’t your captors. But there’s little we know about you. It would be helpful if you could tell us who you are first, and what you remember.”

It was clear from her gaze that she didn’t trust them. She was probably about to yell at them again, until the other man stepped forward.

“Wait a tick, I recognize that symbol.” He pointed to the emblem on the door. “You’re the Blade of Marmora, associates of King Alfor.”

From what Keith could remember, King Alfor had been killed over ten thousand years ago. The wormhole they passed through before, could it have been from that far back in time?

The girl took a deep breath and closed her eyes. After a moment, she opened them again, resolution clear on her face as she joined her hands and stepped forward.

“I am Princess Allura, daughter of late King Alfor. Whom _you_ galra killed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much [@baedelus](http://baedelus.tumblr.com) for [the gorgeous fanart](http://baedelus.tumblr.com/post/166147189775/) that accompanied this fic. I wouldn't have posted this fic without their encouragement.
> 
> I can't believe This is finally being posted. There is still one more chapter to go, but I can finally post this monstrosity I've been working on for the longest time. I'm so happy it's finally out here.
> 
> I haven't written anything seriously in years so hopefully this isn't as bad as I perceive it to be haha. Please comment and let me know what you think. I'm nervous but excited to finally be sharing this.
> 
> As you might have already noticed, for the sake of simplicity I am using human time measurement for this fic rather than creating one like the ones used in the show. Things like days, months, years, all vary depending on the frequency with which their base circles around the neighboring star and tbh it would have just turned things way too complicated unnecessarily.


End file.
